Sunday, February 22, 2015

Friday was a bit rough, when I went over to Safeway to get a Starbucks and the ingredients for the soup I was taking to the Clinic potluck my car died :(

My car has been fabulously dependable for the last 6 years... but there I was stranded. I called my friend Mary K. (that I do the runs with) and she came over and got me.

Then I had to arrange to have the car towed to the shop. Believe it or not, I have never had a car towed (intentionally anyway) in my life! Todd met the driver and gave him the keys, so that I could stay at work and try to get some stuff completed.

It was after 6pm when I finally got home and was pretty late by the time I actually got to preparing the Roasted Winter Vegetable soup I had volunteered to take for the Saturday lunch.

Saturday morning was easy though, I got up and got ready and picked Michelle up at 7:30. One good thing about waking up at 4:10 am during the week??? 7:30 feels like sleeping in.

We made it up to Griffinwood in just over an hour and spent a fun day listening to Dr. Susan Garlinghouse. I had heard several of her lectures at convention one year and so enjoy them. It was really awesome to have her come to the NW and I hope the new riders realized how lucky they are to have access to such a phenomenal horseman, vet, speaker, and Endurance rider!

It was a great clinic, although a little more basic than I had anticipated. I particularly enjoyed the lecture on Metabolics and picked up some new information that I can apply to our rides this year.

We watched a demonstration on Equine Massage that was really cool. I think Cartman would love it.

By the time we got done it was freezing! We stopped by Starbucks and grabbed a hot coffee before heading home to Castle Rock.

Sunday was another gorgeous day! It was a bit foggy early in the am, so I took the opportunity to get all the house cleaning and laundry done.

By 10 am I was outside trying to get Cartman cleaned up for a ride.

I tried some of the massage on C. after I got him groomed. He stood patiently and I actually got a yawn and some lip smacking with the massage on the scapula area!

I think I will add Equine Massage to my list of things to learn more about.

We headed down to the Cooks Ferry Trail about 1pm. I had just gotten C tacked and I was heading out when Michelle and Cinnamon pulled into the parking lot. I took C for a 1.5 mile spin in the sand while Michelle got tacked up.

Cartman and Cinnamon had never met before so we let them walk together a bit but kept a safe distance between the two.

Cartman was fascinated by Cinn. and kept trying to touch her nose.

They seem very compatible! Their walk speed is comparable as was the trot. We rode about 3 miles down the trail and then Michelle moved Cinnamon to the front. I kept Cartman back a bit, so as not to crowd her. Cartman started getting his snotty-tude on at this point.

This time I was in a better area for schooling, so I pulled him around and gave him a few boots with my foot. He was able to maintain his composure (a bit) and we made it to the end of the path. I told Michelle he was being naughty and that we were going to have a little attitude adjustment off in the sand!

I took C up to the top of the dredge spoils and we trotted and cantered about 1.5 miles. When I pulled him up he was breathing pretty hard. We spotted M. and Cinn. and headed back over to walk behind them again. This time C was a little better and we headed back on the trail again.

We again tried the -follow and let your buddy go on routine- and he was pretty good. As soon as he started getting into a snit I pulled him around and made him trot and canter the other direction.

I think we'll be doing some schooling on this this spring.

About 1/2 way back to the trailers we spotted a white Dodge behind us... it was Todd and the dogs! We were curious how Cinn. would react to having Buddy with us, so I called out to him and he came running like a rocket!

Despite Buddy going right behind her back legs (Will he ever learn?????) Cinn was a rockstar with the dogs. They went about a mile with us and then Todd picked them up while we headed back to the trailers.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

I finally got over that nasty cold/flu bug and was able to start doing some training rides!

Sunday before last I hauled Cartman up to Red Rock and planned to do a slow 11 mile ride. It wasn't raining but wasn't sunny and was just barely cool enough for a light jacket.

Naughty ears today

We headed out about 11 am and walked for about the first 2 miles. We had to go though a trail cut in the woods at this point and it was surprisingly dry for February! Once we got through that part I was ready to get moving out a bit, but just as we got down a short incline we were stopped by a downed tree.

It was a huge tree too. I looked on both sides but could see no easy way around. So, plan two. We turned around and it was like I was suddenly on a different horse! Cartman started hopping up and down in place and wanting to take off. WTH???

Red Rock

Unfortunately this part of the road is an old logging road that hasn't really been used in a long time. It is basically two ruts with a large slick mound of grass/mud in the middle and on each side of the ruts. Not really room to circle or do any side passes or training moves. I tried to stay relaxed and take hold of C.'s mouth enough to maintain control but not start a pulling match or make him feel too claustrophobic.

Finally we made it back up the incline to the wooded trail. At this point he wasn't really getting much better and was really wanting to be naughty. I actually had to get off! In the back of my head of course was the fact that I was out there in the middle of nowhere and if I got dumped or hurt no one would likely find me for hours. Oh, and no cell service.

I hand walked Cartman back through the slick wooded trail and then re mounted on the other side where the footing was better.

Cartman was agreeable to walking and doing a more controlled trot at this point so we headed back the way we came. I did stop to explore two or three spurs that I hoped might get us to some more tail but sadly they were all dead ends or were also blocked by trees!

Mt St Helens

We ended up getting about 7 rather anxious miles and Cartman had finally found his brain again by the time we got back to the trailer!

This last Sunday we got almost 7 miles riding our local jogging path trail and doing a few loops through the dredge spoil sand areas.

trailer round up! I ran into a few riders out there in the sun.

While I was riding Todd was spending all weekend working on his '53 pick up.

battery box and battery installed

gas pedal and linkage installed

Uh, some type of fuel line?

Custom diamond plate to cover a gaping hole in the firewall

1953 gauges ready to install

still some work to do in here

Tonight I left work early enough to get a short 5 miler in on the jogging path again. I rode a bit faster tonight and did a bit more canter. Cartman feels like he will regain fitness pretty quickly but I want to make sure his legs are up to the harder packed trail we are relegated to this time of year.

trying to get a full body shot.

I will be going to an Endurance Clinic with Dr. Susan Garlinghouse this weekend so won't get to ride again until Sunday.